Knockdown Daily 11/29/21: A Look At The Week Ahead
We take a look at the week ahead in the Monday edition
Welcome to the Monday edition of the Knockdown Daily. Today’s issue will discuss all the top stories in MMA and will also preview the upcoming week.
News
Rising Lightweights Beneil Dariush and Islam Makhachev To Headline February 26th UFC Event
Extensive win streaks at lightweight will be put on the line in a UFC main event next year. The promotion has paired up Beneil Dariush and Islam Makhachev for their February 26th headliner, per a report from Brett Okamoto of ESPN.
The fight joins a card that doesn’t have a confirmed location at the moment.
Makhachev will be searching for his 10th consecutive victory in MMA. He has been on a streak of wins since 2016, with five of them coming via stoppage.
Makhachev won his first main event UFC bout in July, submitting Thiago Moises in the fourth round of a fight via rear naked choke. He has picked up one more win since then, securing a first-round kimura submission against Dan Hooker last month.
Dariush has strung together a seven-fight winning streak since 2018. He picked up two victories this year, securing a split decision win against Diego Ferreira then defeating former interim title challenger Tony Ferguson in May.
The February booking is set to be Dariush’s first main event fight since joining the UFC in 2014.
Kyohei Hagiwara Returns To Win Column, Finishes Shoji With Punches
Kyohei Hagiwara showed his explosive striking skills on Sunday, putting together a sudden combination of shots in the second round to stop Shoji.
The fight headlined RIZIN’s first “TRIGGER” event, which took place at the Kobe World Memorial Hall in Kobe, Japan.
Hagiwara’s finish to the bout came in the second round when he dropped Shoji with a right cross. He continued to land shots on Shoji when he was back to his feet, connecting with a left hook that knocked him down again. Hagiwara then landed a soccer kick to the head of a downed Hagiwara before the referee stepped in and finished the bout.
Hagiwara and Shoji traded blows in back-and-forth exchanges earlier in the fight, both connecting at times.
The bout put Hagiwara back into the win column after suffering a loss to Mikuru Asakura last month.
Hagiwara is best known for securing three finish wins last year, defeating Ren Hiramoto, Yojiro Uchimura and Rikuto Shirakawa in a five-month time period.
Hagiwara seemingly entered the fight with an injury, having a visible bruising around his left eye.
Shoji, a veteran of over a decade in MMA, was riding the momentum of a 20-second finish win he earned against Chihiro Suzuki in September. He had a two-fight losing streak prior to that win.
A full report on “RIZIN TRIGGER 1st” can be read here.
Here are the quick results:
Main Card (12:00AM EST / 2:00PM JST) (Live-Now / RIZIN Live)
Bout 1: Tsubasa Morii def. FUJIMON♡ via Decision, Unanimous (Kickboxing Bout)
Bout 2: Kenji Kato def. Katsuya Fujiwara via TKO, Strikes (RD 2) (MMA Bout)
Bout 3: Momoka def. Miku via Decision, Unanimous (Kickboxing Bout)
Bout 4: Tepparith Joegym def. Hiroto Uchimura via TKO, Strikes (RD 2) (Kickboxing Bout)
Bout 5: Jin Mandokoro def. Yu Hiramatsu via TKO, Strikes (RD 2) (Kickboxing Bout)
Bout 6: Daiki Lightyear def. Makoto Kamaya via TKO, Strikes (RD 2) (MMA Bout)
Bout 7: Grant Bogdanove def. Keisuke Okuda via Submission, Rear Naked Choke (RD 1) (MMA Bout)
Bout 8: Chihiro Suzuki def. Sora Yamamoto via Decision, Unanimous (MMA Bout)
Bout 9: Tatsuki Saomoto def. Takashi Matsuba via Decision, Split (MMA Bout)
Bout 10: Uoi Fullswing def. Shian via TKO, Strikes (RD 1) (MMA Bout)
Bout 11: Ryuichiro Sumimura def. Yusaku Kinoshita via Disqualification, Cage Grab (RD 2) (MMA Bout)
Bout 12: Strasser Kiichi def. Takahiro Kawanaka via Submission, Arm Triangle Choke (RD 1) (MMA Bout)
Bout 13: Yoshinori Horie def. Hirotaka Nakada via Decision, Unanimous (MMA Bout)
Bout 14: Kyohei Hagiwara def. Shoji via TKO, Strikes (RD 2) (MMA Bout)
A Look At The Week Ahead
After a quiet week of MMA amid U.S. Thanksgiving holidays, the sport is back in full force this week with events from ONE Championship, Bellator, LFA and UFC. Here’s a glimpse of what’s to come.
Friday
ONE Championship: Winter Warriors
ONE Championship will wrap up their 115-pound Grand Prix on Friday, as Stamp Fairtex and Ritu Phogat will compete in the co-main event of “Winter Warriors.” The event, which is headlined by a kickboxing title fight, is also set to have a pairing between undefeated heavyweights Kang Ji Won and Marcus Buchecha.
Location: Singapore Indoor Stadium, Singapore
Main Card (7:30AM EST / 8:30PM SGT) (Bleacher Report App / Youtube)
Bout 6: Regian Eersel vs. Islam Murtazaev (ONE Kickboxing Welterweight Championship) (170 lbs)
Bout 5: Stamp Fairtex (7-1) vs. Ritu Phogat (7-1) (ONE Atomweight Grand Prix Final) (115 lbs)
Bout 4: Qiu Jianliang vs. Hiroki Akimoto (145 lbs) (Kickboxing Bout)
Bout 3: Timofey Nastyukhin (14-5) vs. Dagi Arslanaliev (8-2) (170 lbs) (MMA Bout)
Bout 2: Kang Ji Won (5-0) vs. Marcus Buchecha (1-0) (265 lbs) (MMA Bout)
Bout 1: Hu Yong (7-2) vs. Yuya Wakamatsu (14-4) (135 lbs) (MMA Bout)
LFA 119: Silveira vs. Revel
LFA will host two title fights as part of their event on Friday night. In the headlining bout, light heavyweight titleholder Joshua Silveira will drop down a weight class and attempt to become a two-division champion when facing Jared Revel for a vacant middleweight belt.
Undefeated bantamweights will also compete for a belt in the co-main event, as Richie Palencia and Allan Begosso are set to square off.
The entire LFA 119 card is not known at the moment, but the promotion announced three fights before.
Location: Arizona Federal Theatre, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Main Card (10:00PM EST / 8:00PM MST) (UFC Fight Pass)
Bout 3: Josh Silveira (6-0) vs. Jared Revel (11-2) (Vacant LFA Middleweight Championship)
Bout 2: Richie Palencia (9-0) vs. Allan Begosso (6-0-1) (Vacant LFA Bantamweight Championship)
Bout 1: Clayton Carpenter (4-0) vs. Rodney Kealohi (5-2) (Flyweight)
Bellator 272: Pettis vs. Horiguchi
Bellator has the biggest fight of the week set for Friday, as former Bellator Bantamweight Champion Kyoji Horiguchi will aim to reclaim his belt when facing current champ Sergio Pettis.
Horiguchi earned the belt in 2019, fighting to a unanimous decision win over Darrion Caldwell at Bellator 222. He later had to vacate the belt, along with his RIZIN title, due to injury.
After taking back his RIZIN belt in late 2020, Horiguchi is now on the hunt to earn a belt in Bellator again. On the other hand, Pettis will be fighting to defend his title for the first time. He gained the championship in May, going five rounds against Juan Archuleta for a decision victory.
Location: Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Connecticut, USA
Main Card (10:00PM EST) (Showtime)
Bout 12: Sergio Pettis (21-5) vs. Kyoji Horiguchi (29-3) (Bellator Bantamweight Championship)
Bout 11: Emmanuel Sanchez (20-6) vs. Jeremy Kennedy (16-3) (Featherweight)
Bout 10: Jay Jay Wilson (8-0) vs. Alfie Davis (14-4) (Lightweight)
Bout 9: Johnny Eblen (9-0) vs. Collin Huckbody (10-3) (Middleweight)
Preliminary Card (7:00PM EST) (Youtube)
Bout 8: Jornel Lugo (7-0) vs. Tommy Espinosa (6-3) (Bantamweight)
Bout 7: Josh Hill (20-4) vs. Jared Scoggins (10-1) (Bantamweight)
Bout 6: Vinicius de Jesus (9-4) vs. Levan Chokheli (9-1) (Middleweight)
Bout 5: Mike Hamel (8-5) vs. Killys Mota (12-2) (Lightweight)
Bout 4: Alexander Shabliy (20-3) vs. Bobby King (10-3) (Lightweight)
Bout 3: Kai Kamaka III (8-4-1) vs. John de Jesus (14-9) (Featherweight)
Bout 2: Kyle Crutchmer (7-1) vs. Oliver Enkamp (10-2) (Welterweight)
Bout 1: Spike Carlyle (12-3) vs. Dan Moret (15-6) (Lightweight)
Saturday
UFC on ESPN 31: Font vs. Aldo
Former UFC Champion and all-time MMA great Jose Aldo will return to action on Saturday night, facing Rob Font in the main event of a “Fight Night” card.
The fight will be Aldo’s first main event appearance since he fought Max Holloway in late 2017. He is currently riding the momentum of a strong showing he had in August against Pedro Munhoz.
Font is a tough challenge for Aldo, having won in his last four bouts. He was successful in his first UFC main event bout earlier this year, defeating Cody Garbrandt in May.
Location: UFC APEX, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Main Card (10:00PM EST / 7:00PM PST) (ESPN / TSN 5)
Bout 14: Rob Font (19-4) vs. Jose Aldo (30-7) (Bantamweight)
Bout 13: Rafael Fiziev (10-1) vs. Brad Riddell (10-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 12: Clay Guida (36-21) vs. Leonardo Santos (18-4-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 11: Jimmy Crute (12-2) vs. Jamahal Hill (8-1) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 10: Brendan Allen (17-4) vs. Chris Curtis (27-8) (Middleweight)
Preliminary Card (7:00PM EST / 4:00PM PST) (ESPN+ / TSN 5)
Bout 9: Maki Pitolo (13-9) vs. Dusko Todorovic (10-2) (Middleweight)
Bout 8: Jake Matthews (17-5) vs. Jeremiah Wells (9-2-1) (Welterweight)
Bout 7: Zhalgas Zhumagulov (14-5) vs. Manel Kape (16-6) (Flyweight)
Bout 6: Mallory Martin (7-4) vs. Cheyanne Vlismas (6-2) (Strawweight)
Bout 5: Alonzo Menifield (11-2) vs. William Knight (10-2) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 4: Claudio Puelles (10-2) vs. Chris Gruetzemacher (15-4) (Lightweight)
Bout 3: Azamat Murzakanov (10-0) vs. Jared Vanderaa (12-6) (Heavyweight)
Bout 2: Alex Morono (20-7) vs. Mickey Gall (7-3) (Welterweight)
Bout 1: Louis Smolka (17-7) vs. Vince Morales (10-5) (Bantamweight)
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